Thank you so much for the alerts, and also for the review! I'm happy that somebody is interested in reading my story.

Here is chapter two! I hope you enjoy it.

.,.

Chapter two

"Oh Merlin, oh Merlin", Harry mumbled to himself, as he walked the short distance from the Great Hall to the library, rubbing his hands together nervously. He needed his Hermione and he needed her now.

He found her at her usual table. He loved that about her, that she was so predictable, that he could just turn a corner and find her, waiting for him. She looked up and frowned at the expression on Harry's face, immediately understanding that something was very wrong.

"How are you?" she asked carefully, reaching out her hand and patting the chair beside her.

Harry sat down, running his fingers through his hair, deciding to get straight to the point. "I was just verbally abused by those two huge gorillas in Slytherin, Cracker and Doyle or whatever their names are."

"What?"

"Yeah!" Harry stared at her, wide-eyed. "It was brutal. I'm lucky to be alive."

"Okay." Hermione closed her books and rolled her parchment into a tight roll, pushing everything aside and putting her hands on the table, linking her fingers together. "What happened?"

"I just told you! They jumped me in the Great Hall. Just started shouting randomly, for no reason. Slytherins apparently hate Gryffindors. Who would've known." He looked down, chewing on his lower lip.

"So you didn't do anything to anger or upset them?"

"What?" Harry looked up again, glaring at her. "Why would you immediately assume I was upsetting them. I don't upset people. I'm a very not... upsetting... guy. Or gay. Whichever you prefer." He grinned at her but when she just stared at him he sighed heavily and continued: "Okay, well, I was sitting at their table.."

"What? Why?"

"Because that's where Draco is."

Hermione nodded calmly. "Sure. Draco." The hint of a smile played on her lips before she was serious again. "And?"

"And I was going to apologise for staring at him, you know. Because apparently staring is rude", he said pointedly, making air quotes around the word 'rude'.

"Yes, it is. And then?"

"And then, before I'd even said anything, Roy starts screaming."

"Wait, who's Roy?"

"Roy's the smaller gorilla. Pay attention", Harry snapped. "Anyway, he's like really upset that I'm sitting at his table because I'm a Gryffindor!" Harry continued, making his voice low and rough at the last word, trying to sound like Goyle. "And then Crackle shows up and starts staring at me like I'm food, and not in a good way, so I got out of there before things got physical."

"So you didn't get a chance to apologise?"

"No."

"Oh."
.,.

Draco didn't know whether he should be flattered or angered by Crabbe and Goyle's outbursts. On one hand they were doing it to protect him but on the other, well, they protected him from the wrong person. However much he wanted to put distance between himself and Harry Potter, he felt a nagging sense of curiosity about the reason the boy had sat down in front of him at the breakfast table.

He was back in his Dorm, gathering the books, parchment and quills he needed for the two classes he would be attending before lunch in his worn brown leather satchel (a gift from his grandmother), and quickly glanced at himself in the mirror that was set up on the wall beside the bathroom door before heading out the door.

He hurried down the stairs, sneaking past Pansy, who was sitting in one of the soft, green armchairs with the back against him, and climbed through the portrait hole only to stumble into Harry Potter. Harry immediately reached out to steady him and Draco, almost tripping over himself again, pulled away, completely flustered. Harry must've been standing right outside the portrait which, to Draco, seemed a bit mental.

"Hi." The boy sort of waved pathetically at Draco with both hands. He looked nervous, as if he was expecting Draco to yell at him, or maybe there was another reason. "I- How are you?"

Draco glanced left and right; the corridor was completely deserted. How long had Harry been standing outside the Slytherin Common Room? And, more importantly, why? "What are you doing here?" he asked shakily, still shocked from their sudden collision.

"I'm, uh, I thought I'd walk you to class."

"Oh, okay", Draco said, confused. Of all the reasons Harry could've been standing there... "That's, um, great."

"I mean, if that's okay with you", Harry added quickly, gesturing at Draco with his hands.

Draco nodded mutely and Harry looked relieved. Then he moved his right hand towards Draco's and Draco, for a panicked second, thought the other boy wanted to hold his hand, but then, just as Draco was about to leap away, Harry was grabbing at the leather strap of his satchel and Draco understood what he was trying to do. Carry his bag. For him. Which was crazy. And even crazier was that Draco let him take the bag.

"You're not going to steal it are you?" he asked and Harry let out a shocked laugh.

"No! No. Of course not." He gave Draco a smile so warm and affectionate that he had to look away. "So." Harry cocked his head to the left. "Are we going?"

"Yeah. Sure."

They started walking, side by side, under silence. Harry was carrying Draco's bag in his left hand, the other swinging loosely back and forth by his side, in rhythm with his strides. Draco, who didn't know what to do with his hands now that he didn't have a bag to carry, alternated between crossing his arms in front of his chest and burying them in the pockets of his trousers. The latter proved to feel most natural, so he opted for keeping them in his pockets until they reached the classroom. Speaking of...

"Hey!" Draco said suddenly, making Harry jump. "Do you even know where I'm going?"

"Sure", Harry said easily. "DADA, right?"

Draco gave him a questioning look. "How did you know that?"

"Oh." The corners of Harry's mouth twitched and he kept his stare firmly fixed on the floor. "Uh, Hermione knows a girl in Slytherin and, um, she – I mean, I asked her to -" He paused, running his free hand over his head. "Nevermind." He coughed once, flashing Draco a quick smile.

Draco of course realised that the other boy had asked this Hermione to find out his schedule and he felt a strange, quite unwelcome flutter in his stomach. "So, are you planning on carrying my books to class the whole day or is it just a one-time-thing?"

Harry looked quickly at him and Draco could see his hand tightening around the leather strap on Draco's bag. "Only if you want me to", he said quietly.

Draco felt his face grow warm and turned his head around. He did not want the other boy to notice the kind of effect he had on Draco. He was cocky enough as it was. "Well, I'm going to the library later to get some new books", he said. "Heavy books. So I might take you up on that." It was meant to sound light-hearted and joking, but thanks to the hoarse quality of his voice, which was both unwanted and unintentional, it came out more like a seductive invitation.

"Sure", Harry said airily, as if it either way was fine with him, but Draco could hear the smile in his voice.

.,.

Ron was sick and tired of lying in bed all day. He'd been sick for over a week and was running out of interesting things to spend his time with. Soon he would have to resort to reading through the notes Hermione had given him after every single class she'd attended, though he hoped to Merlin it would not have to go that far.

He sighed loudly, turning his head to the side so that he could peek out of the window. It was a beautiful day and he would've loved to go outside and enjoy the autumn sun, perhaps throw rocks into the lake or hang out at Hagrid's. But no, he was confined to his bed until Madame Pomfrey gave him the go-ahead.

He pressed his lips together in annoyance. Everything sucked. Life sucked. His life completely sucked. He had eaten all his candy and finished every bottle of pumpkin juice and now all he could do was lie there, staring at the ceiling of his four post bed. He couldn't move even if he wanted to since his blankets had been spelled to keep him in place. Ron was certain some rule of human rights was being broken but his weak protests had only been met with an inquiry about whether Ron wanted to die instead, which, obviously, he didn't. And there it was. He was a prisoner in his own bed. There's something to put in my memoir, he thought.

Suddenly the door burst open, banging loudly against the wall and his messy haired best friend stormed into the Dorm. "Ron? Hey mate, you're up!" Harry slid down on the edge of Ron's bed, smiling widely.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call this being 'up'", Ron said dryly, gesticulating to his current vertical position.

Harry shrugged happily. "I've got news."

"About the new kid?" Ron asked, even though he already knew the answer. His best friend had not been able to talk about anything else since the beginning of the semester.

"Yes!" Harry said excitedly. He pulled his legs up on the bed, hugging them with his arms and resting his chin upon his knees. "Guess what I did today?"

Ron shook his head. "What did you do?"

"I carried his bag!"

"Right." Ron nodded. "Good. Very gentleman-y."

"I thought so", Harry said proudly, as if he was the one who had invented the gesture of carrying someone's stuff for them.

"So, did he appreciate it?"

"Not really."

"But you are still happy?"

"Yes!" Harry's grin nearly broke his face. "Because he is so awesome." He untangled himself and jumped off the bed. "All right, see you!"

"Hey!" Ron shouted, because Harry was already out the door.

Harry's head, tilted to the side, became visible in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go and carry his bag again! He's waiting for me outside the library."

"Of course", Ron muttered to himself when Harry's head had disappeared again. He'd wished for some company but, after all, Harry was Harry.

Ron clenched his fists, closed his eyes and thought, with all his might, I need to pee, I need to pee. He pulled at the corners of his blanket experimentally but nothing happened. The blankets could not be fooled. He had to wait until the pumpkin juice had made its way through his system.

.,.

Draco was surprised to see Harry leaping down the stairs, two at a time, even though the boy had promised to come after checking on his sick friend. He was right on time too, Draco had only been standing there for a couple of minutes. Harry paused in front of him, grinning, and Draco handed him his bag without a word. He'd tried to get out of this whole bag-carrying-business before, but Harry had refused to listen to his protests, either changing the subject or, quite childishly, pressing his palms against his ears, effectively blocking out the sound of Draco's voice, until Draco had given up.

"So, where to?" Harry asked.

"Uh, the Common Room?" Draco hated that it had come out sounding like a question, as if he'd felt the need to check with Harry if this was an okay destination.

"Right then." Harry began walking and Draco quickly fell into step beside him.

When they reached the Slytherin Portrait, Harry halted and handed Draco his bag. Draco thanked him and Harry said that it was no problem and where the natural good bye should have followed, there was an unnatural silence instead. Draco was immediately consumed by the need to get away from the uncomfortable situation. To run, as he always did. He started to turn but Harry reached out and grabbed a hold of his arm, effectively halting his movement.

"There was something I wanted to say." Harry said, his voice low and serious.

"Y-yeah?" Draco said hoarsely, his voice cracking.

"Yeah." Harry looked away, as if he couldn't bare to look into Draco's eyes while speaking. "I'm... I'm sorry."

Draco's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Was he apologising for carrying his bag the whole day?

"In the library", Harry explained, regarding Draco's expression warily. "When I, oh Merlin, this is going to sound silly, but my friend Hermione, she told me to say this: I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." He blurted the words in such a way that it was more than obvious they weren't really his words, but his tone was sincere.

Draco was bewildered. He had been certain he was the one that had made Harry uncomfortable, what with the long silence and all, and here Harry was apologising to him as if Harry was the one at fault.

"Well, okay then", Harry said, eyeing him cautiously, and Draco realised he had been quiet and that his silence might have come across as disapproval.

"It's okay, it really is", he said quickly and the relief on Harry's face was almost unbearable.

"Really?"

"Yes." Draco ventured a smile. "Really."

"Great", Harry grinned, bouncing once on his feet before running his fingers through his hair. "Wow, I'm really happy now. I promise to never stare at you like that again, I just want to... be friends."

Draco nodded calmly even though his insides were doing all kinds of weird things. "Me too."

"Okay, wow", Harry said, grinning from ear to ear. "That's great. Wow. Okay. So, I'll see you around then? Friend", he added, mostly to himself, smiling.

Draco nodded again. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty, making it hard to hold on to his bag. He needed to get away from this hyperactive person, he needed to think, to go over what had just happened and make some sense of it. Harry wanted to be his friend. He felt as if there was something he was missing. As if his life was a book missing one of its chapters. And he needed to write to his mother.

.,.

"So, you did it?" Hermione asked, not taking her eyes off the page in the book she was reading.

"Yes, I did it. I apologised. And now we're friends", Harry said happily.

Ron's voice came from somewhere under the blankets, muffled: "That's my boy."

Harry smiled, leaning back against his pillows and folding his arms behind his head.

.,.

Mother,

I think I made a friend today. A real friend. He seems to honestly like me and I don't know why. Write back soon.

Draco

P.S. Don't tell dad.